Joyride

Rating:
Summary: 2.5 stars
Review: A minor, if expected, diseaster brings together two friends in junior high gym class. After saving Stella from embarrassment, Emily becomes her life long best friend, seeing her through the labyrinth of dating with unconventional wit and wisdom and a due amount of sarcasm. Along the way come assorted heartaches; death, divorce, sour relationships, and betrayals. Even when an ocean and something bordering on treachery stand between them, Stella and Emily remain true sisters of the heart, working their way towards a good ending. For fans of the series Sisters or the movies Beaches or Steel Magnolias, this will be a read that is highly likely to be something enjoyable. The main flaw in the execution lies with the seesawing between past and present.
Joy is in the ears that hear..or the eyes that see

Rating:
Summary: An Absolutely Amazing Book!
Review: Ever wonder what it would be like to have a best friend from childhood who would remain your best friend forever? Or even a group of friends? Lindsay Faith Rech's latest book explores just that possibility, and more. This is no ordinary chick lit book, I might add. Instead, this book is a wonderful novel filled with characters that you just don't want to leave at the end, and a story that is more like an experience then just a story.

"Joyride" is told from Stella's point of view. The story begins in the present tense one night when Stella gets a phone call from her best childhood friend Emily, who now lives in Europe. Emily is all worked up and needs Stella to come out to her immediately. What the exact problem is isn't revealed to the readers yet, but it's clear that it is something that Emily has done that is bad enough to threaten their solid friendship. Stella, clearly agonized over the news given, jumps on the first flight she can find.

But since Emily lives so far away and it will take no less than three flights to get to her, Stella has plenty of time to reminisce about the past. That is where the book then goes into the past tense and explains how Stella and Emily got to be such good friends and what led up to that fateful phone call. It tells how their lives growing up were exhilarating, yet tinged with the sorrow of many losses. However, somehow they stuck together through man problems, parental issues, deaths of loved ones, and much more.

"Joyride" is a complex, rich and beautifully written book that I never imagined it would be when I picked it up to read. Author Lindsay Faith Rech is supremely talented to pull such a story together. The vibrant and realistic descriptions of friendship, love, lust, sorrow, pain, and happiness are interwoven with the threads of the plot. There is a very healthy amount of suspense in the story as well, since we have no idea what the fateful phone call is about until near the end. I tried to guess but ended up being wrong, which I loved. (I dislike being able to predict an ending in a book I'm reading.)

The characterization in this novel is thorough and solid, and the story and characters gripped me immediately, to an extent that I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. Some parts of this book are not completely realistic, such as the friendship and how it was portrayed in the story. However, that only adds to this book's genius. Trust me - read it and you'll see what I mean.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to absolutely everyone! My only warning to you is not to start it right before going to bed, because you will be sure to be up all night with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Addictive!
Review: I couldn't get enough of this book. I started it during the big blizzard a couple weeks ago and was glued to it from start to finish. The author doesn't give you a chance to get bored or take a breather -- there's literally so many surprises, so many touching moments, so many thrills...you never know what's hiding around the corner. And for that reason, you find yourself just HAVING to squeeze just one more page of reading in before you walk away. Of course, with me, "one more page" turned into the entire book in one night, but maybe you'll have more discipline! Stella and Emily just have such an amazing friendship and Lindsay Faith Rech is such a talented storyteller. She definitely leaves you missing them at the end. "Joyride" is the perfect title for this book because it describes the reader's experience to a tee. Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! - FANTASTIC!!!
Review: This is the best Chic-Lit book that I've read in a long time!
I became glued to the characters. Stella and Emily had the kind of friendship that girls WISH that they had with their friends, but hardly ever do. As she did in Losing It, Lindsay Rech, finds vunerable spots in her characters, that you can't help but identify with. I LOVED THIS BOOK!